Prologue
The Wheezing Bogeyman,
A shadow that comes out at night,
A wheezing noise when the clock reads late,
When you hear him don't take fright,
Only a look will seal your fate.
The lilac horse Toon, Katarina awoke with a start, her heart pounding. What was that? A noise had awoken her from her slumber. The sound of something smashing on the floor. She sat up in bed, and held her breath and listened. Nothing. Perhaps she had imagined it. Wait. What was that?
Katarina quietly pulled back the covers and got out of bed. She crept across to the door and very slowly and carefully, pulled it open.
The Toon could hear the sounds from downstairs clearer, now that the door was open. She had assumed it was some kind of Cog making an after hours visit to her shop but what Cog wheezed in such a manner? Sounded like he had asthma or some other breathing problem. Katarina swallowed and silently descended the stairs. She could hear his or her wheezing coming from the kitchen. The lilac horse reached the door, took a deep breath and quietly pushed it open. At first she could see no one. The wheezing was all around her now; she could not pinpoint where in the kitchen they were. She pushed the door open further and it creaked on its hinges. Katarina froze as the wheezing stopped.
There was a deathly silence for a moment before the intruder spoke.
"Don't. . . look at me," he rasped, a strange mechanised edge to his voice.
Katarina did the opposite, whipping around in fright at the sudden noise. Her eyes beheld a hunched, large-for-a-Toon figure wrapped in a heavy, black, woollen cloak.
"DON'T LOOK AT ME!" he shrieked and lunged at her, claw-like hands out stretched. As he leapt, his hood fell back allowing her a clear view of his face. And she screamed at the sight of it.